Electrical discharge weapons are weapons that connect a shocking power to a remote live target by means of darts and/or trailing wires fired from the electrical discharge weapons. The shocks debilitate violent suspects, so peace officers can more easily subdue and capture them. Stun guns, by contrast, connect the shocking power to the live target that are brought into direct contact with the stun guns to subdue the target. Electrical discharge weapons are far less lethal than other more conventional firearms.
In general, the basic idea of the above described electrical discharge weapons is to disrupt the electric communication system of muscle cells in a live target. That is, an electrical discharge weapon generates a high-voltage, low-amperage electrical charge. When the charge passes into the live target's body, it is combined with the electrical signals from the brain of the live target. The brain's original signals are mixed in with random noise, making it very difficult for the muscle cells to decipher the original signals. As such, the live target is stunned or temporarily paralyzed. The current of the charge may be generated with a pulse frequency that mimics a live target's own electrical signal to further stun or paralyze the live target.
To dump this high-voltage, low-amperage electrical charge, the electrical discharge weapon includes a shock circuit having multiple transformers and/or autoformers that boost the voltage in the circuit and/or reduce the amperage. The shock circuit may also include an oscillator to produce a specific pulse pattern of electricity and/or frequency. In one embodiment, the charge is then released to the live target via a charge electrode and a ground electrode respectively positioned on a charge dart and a ground dart that are both connected to the weapon by long conductive wires. In the embodiment, the long conductive wires are considered necessary to maintain low force factors necessary for a weapon delivery system which is presumed incapable of seriously injuring a human target, but which is also capable of propelling a projectile at a target for a practical range. That is, it is desirable to use a small propellant charge and a light weight projectile.
However, a disadvantage to such a design of using two wired darts is that both minimum and maximum range are sacrificed. That is, as known to those skilled in the art, depending on the angle between the weapon's bores, the charge and ground darts will not spread enough at closer ranges to insure an adequately large current path through the target, unless the marksman is lucky enough to impact a particularly sensitive area of the body. At further ranges the darts will have spread too far apart for both of them to impact the target as needed to complete the current path through the target. In addition, the wired darts could not pass down the bore of most conventional firearms.
Moreover, if the wires are not deployed to their maximum range and length, they will hang from the cartridge over the bottom of the port or firing bay and frequently rest laxly on the ground in close proximity to each other or even resting upon or overlapping each other for portions of their lengths. Accordingly, the wires have to be insulated by heavy insulation to prevent them from being shorted with each other. The weight of the insulation further limits the range of the darts and the type of firearms that can project these darts.
In view of the foregoing, it would be highly desirable to create a weapon for immobilization and capture of a live target having a shock circuit that can be entirely located within a projectile or a missile of the weapon so that trailing wires can be eliminated while still allowing the weapon to provide a sufficient stun (shock) power. Also, it would be desirable to provide a shock circuit for an electrical discharge weapon that recaptures some of the wasted energy that appears in the total pulse pattern of a charge (e.g., to recapture the part of the energy of a conventional pulse pattern that does not have sufficient amplitude to cause a debilitating shock).